Ryan's Plan Does Not Mean What You Think It Means

Having slammedPaul Ryan's budget in a previous piece, David Frum now tries to list what he likes about it. Not an unworthy exercise, but it’s worth noting that a lot of Frum's positive points assume we’ll eventually fold Ryan's plan into the structure laid down by health-care reform.

It's an interesting thought experiment, but let's face facts: Republicans don't want to build on health-care reform because that’s an implicit endorsement. They want to repeal it. They're not interested in creating a consistent, rational, or humane health-care system. They're just concerned with spending less, and the vouchers and block grants are just a smoke screen to hide that fact. Ryan doesn't get his reductions through the structural changes to how Medicare and Medicaid spend money. He's getting the reductions by slashing the raw amount they have to spend.

All of which goes to show: The only way to salvage positives from Ryan's plan is assume values, priorities, and commitments that Ryan and his party manifestly do not hold.